CATHOLIC
Diocese of Ndola treasurer general Father Augustine Mwewa has said
information minister Ronnie Shikapwasha does not deserve to be chief government
spokesman because he is shallow. And UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema yesterday
said Shikapwasha's attack on the Catholic Church is close to
foolishness.

Commentingon Shikapwasha's ministerial statement to Parliament
last Friday where he attacked the Catholic Church and The
Post, Fr Mwewa described Shikapwasha as being shallow and put him in the
category of pigs if it was in the situation of Animal Farm
because he was enjoying.

"General Shikapwasha belongs to the category of
pigs if it was in the situation of Animal Farm because he is enjoying and the
people who are toiling for the nation are not getting what they deserve. How
many people have worked and have not gotten their pension? We are being beaten
by cadres before the police and before the President," Fr Mwewa said. "He has
shown me how shallow he is. He doesn't deserve to be where he is."

Fr
Mwewa said it was wrong for Shikapwasha to use the genocide in Rwanda as an
example in Zambia and accuse the Catholic Church of complicity in the
massacre.

"Does he understand the history of the genocide in Rwanda? The
Catholic Church did not promote the genocide in Rwanda," Fr Mwewa said. "In
fact, it is politicians like him who manipulated the situation in Rwanda based
on ethnic lines and Catholic priests and many members were killed in the
genocide in Rwanda."

He said it
was wrong for the Speaker of the National Assembly Amusaa Mwanamwambwa to have
allowed a chief government spokesman to make remarks that could injure relations
between Zambia and Rwanda.

Fr Mwewa said the Catholic Church and The Post
stood for justice, denounced evil and that Shikapwasha would not manage to stop
them from speaking the truth.

"The Post don't insult," Fr Mwewa said.
"When you talk about the truth, even John the Baptist brought out the truth when
he told Herold that, 'that is wrong, that woman is not your wife' and the
concubine made sure he was beheaded. Gen Shikapwasha is trying to curtail the
voice of The Post and the Catholic Church; he'll never succeed."

Fr Mwewa
said Shikapwasha should apologise for the remarks he made and quit his position
as information minister or President Rupiah Banda should discipline
him.

Shikapwasha last Friday accused the Church of being busy trying to
jostle for who they should put into State
House forgetting their mandate. He also said the Church in Rwanda took sides
with newspapers and radio stations which were fanning out falsehoods and
propaganda that led to the genocide.

And Hichilema said the current MMD
government was senseless.

"What Shikapwasha is doing is unacceptable. MMD
is busy throwing its weight around. To accuse the Catholic Church just shows how
ignorant Shikapwasha is because Catholics are doing a lot of work. These guys
live in wonderland. What Shikapwasha said about Catholics is close to
foolishness," Hichilema said. "We know what happened in Rwanda but there is
nothing like that in Zambia. Shikapwasha is even supposed to be a reverend, he
must respect the church. Sometimes I think that we must pray to God that he
deregisters people like Shikapwasha because he is not fit to be a
reverend."

On Friday, Lt Gen Shikapwasha told Parliament in a ministerial
statement that the church was busy trying to jostle for who they should put into
State House, forgetting their mandate. He said the church in Rwanda took sides
with newspapers and radio stations, which were fanning out falsehoods and
propaganda that led to the genocide.

"The church blindly took sides in
opposing camps such that it is reported Mr Speaker that 'after a century of
Christian proselytisation the country was catholicised but not Christianised.
Ritual was generally followed but the spirit was missing. This became tragically
evident for the church, only after April to May 1994, when its people
slaughtered their brethren wholesale inside the churches on orders from civil
authorities and priests. This, Mr Speaker, is because the church took sides with
men. The church must take sides with God," Shikapwasha said. "I see that the
church in Zambia is taking sides with man rather than taking sides with God. We
see the church in Zambia taking no stand against the things that God abhors.
Where is the church when the newspaper is insulting the Head of State? Where is
the church when young men are insulting old men? Is it not the church to
reconcile God's people in the country? ... Others are dishing out second hand
clothing in the campaign for the pact. Others feel if a person does not belong
to a certain political party, they are not Christian enough. Mr Speaker, all
this used to happen in Rwanda before the genocide.

"The church failed in
Rwanda, 25 priests have so far been imprisoned for genocide. The church in
Zambia must learn from the lessons in Rwanda, the Spirit of God must rule in the
lives of people. If there is any pact, that one should be packeted with it is
Jesus. Therefore, my appeal to the church through you Mr Speaker and through
this August House is seek ye first the Kingdom of God and Zambia shall be saved
from calamities."